Tim: Two Alexander Bard projects joining forces here, coming out with a sound that’s exactly along the lines of what you think it’d be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5O9_gMMLaQ
Tim: “People are lonely.” What a wonderful message to send out, reassuring miserable folks everywhere that actually everybody’s the same. I suppose there are two ways to play it out – very upbeat and happy, with a “we’re all like this, let’s revel in it!” or a gloomy number that just plays to the nihilist in us all. Since neither Gravitonas nor Army of Lovers typically go in for happy pop, we get this, which works just as well as any smile-on-your-face track would, right down to the Pet Shops Boys style spoken bit in the middle eight. In fact, the whole thing’s got a slight Pet Shop Boys feel to it, and it’s really very enjoyable indeed, despite it also being thoroughly miserable.
The most hyped song in this year’s Melodifestivalen.
Tim: This was, by quite a distance, the most hyped song in this year’s Melodifestivalen.
Tom: Man, ‘most hyped song’ is never a good place to be.
Tim: No. Some of it was inevitable – Army of Lovers haven’t performed or released any proper stuff for almost twenty years – but some they brought upon themselves, by promising it to be “Gangnam Style on crack.”
Tom: What – horse riding with more paranoia and jitters? Anyway, how’d this hyped-up AMAZING CHOON do?
Tim: First round knock-out.
Tom: What the hell was that?
Tim: You’ll no doubt recognise Alexander Bard —
Tom: More like Alexander Beard.
Tim: HAHAHAHAHA FUNNY! — previously of BWO and more recently of Gravitonas, as his image isn’t an easy one to forget. Much like this performance. The dancers in tight swimwear, weird headgear, her on the throne spouting incredible nonsense, and just all the other…things.
Tom: That’s the right word to use. Nothing really tied them together; there was no rhyme or reason there. They were just things.
Tim: Yes, and whether or not they lived up to the expectation, that was just the performance.
The song, sadly, just wasn’t all that. It’s not bad, but I get the feeling they were focusing more on putting out a crazy performance than singing a great song – trying to get watercooler folks saying “DID YOU SEE THAT?” rather than the more usual “DID YOU HEAR THAT?” that might be reserved for, say, Malena Ernman.
Tom: And they may well have achieved that – but it won’t be enough to win a song contest.
Tim: No. But could it have been at least enough to get them through to Andra Chansen? Perhaps, but there seems to be not much room this year for crazy stuff. I guess this just isn’t 2006 any more.
